


Wait, We Had a Test Today?!

by xok



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Arguing, Canary/Killua Zoldyck (past relationship), College, Dialogue Heavy, Dirty Jokes, Flirting, Humor, M/M, Multiple Pairings, Party, Underage Drinking, tags update with chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28891002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xok/pseuds/xok
Summary: College is certainly an experience, to say the least.It's a time for self exploration, learning lessons, making terrible decisions, and meeting people you either never want to leave or never want to see again.Gon didn't really know what to expect, but it wasn't what he got.
Relationships: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck
Comments: 24
Kudos: 48





	1. Freeze Frame: I Bet You’re Wondering How I Got Myself Into This Situation

If he had his phone with him, Gon would have looked up the definition of “torrential” in reference to “torrential downpour”, and found out that the word itself refers to an excess amount of rain, thus making the whole statement redundant. The path in front of him was laced with puddles greedily eating up the rain falling down. Was it even worth it to step around him if his socks were already soaked all the way through? Gon looked up at the street sign and wondered if he had passed here before on the way there. Which would have potentially worked if he had been paying closer attention earlier. He just didn’t think he had to. He also didn’t think that he would get abandoned off campus on his first night, scared, shivering, and alone in the dark with nothing but a street light or two to give him light. The situation officially sucked. 

* * *

“Now, if you’re missing anything, make sure you let me know, because I can always ship you something from back home. It’ll take a bit of time to get here, but it’s better than going without it. Oh, and make sure you get all your books before the bookstore runs out of them, and make sure you figure out where the Medical Center is after you’ve moved in, just in case something happens. Oh, and one more thing-”

“I’ll be fine, Aunt Mito, really.” The cart Gon was wheeling was full of boxes and luggage stacked up to his chest, but luckily people were there to open the door and let him in. His phone was smushed between his shoulder and his cheek, making everyone watching his move-in do a double take. When Aunt Mito told him to call as soon as he got to college, that probably didn’t mean  _ as soon as he got off the bus _ . But it was too late for that, anyways. “And besides, when you keep giving me things to remember it gets hard to keep track of them all.”

“Oh, you’re so scatterbrained,” said Aunt Mito. Gon could hear her clicking her tongue over the phone. As much as he told her not to worry about him, she couldn’t help it. As a college freshman, he would be living on his own for the first time. “Just remember all of the things I told you. First and foremost, you keep those grades up. You won’t get to have time for fun if you’re flunking out.”

“Yes ma’am,” acknowledged Gon. While he did have a scholarship for going to school, it required that he keep above a 3.0 GPA otherwise he’d lose it. That couldn’t be too hard, would it?

“Alright, Gon, I’ll let you go now. Make sure to become friends with your roommate, don’t get into any unnecessary fights with him,” said Aunt Mito. “Love you.”  
“Love you too, Aunt Mito,” said Gon, approaching the elevator. He pushed the button with his other hand. “Bye!” Once in the elevator, Gon fished out his room key from his pocket. Room 405, that had to be on the fourth floor, right? Gon waited patiently as the elevator slowly climbed up all four floors, tapping his foot slightly. While other people would complain about the idea of having a roommate, Gon was actually looking forward to it. He’d grown up raised by his Aunt Mito, who never had any kids of her own, and though he’d never outwardly admit it, he craved the idea of having a sibling, or someone to share things with. And having a roommate was the closest thing he’d get to it. A lot of people had chosen their roommates through an application, but Gon had procrastinated too long and ended up doing completely random selection, so his roommate was going to be a total surprise. The elevator door dinged and Gon wheeled his cart out and down the hall, making sure he read the signs at the top of the hallways correctly so he could find his room. It was in the middle of the hallway on the left side. Gon knocked on the door.

No response.

Shrugging, he fiddled with the key, sticking it into the door and turning it back and forth a few times to try to jimmy it open since neither side seemed to work. After about thirty seconds, the door cracked open.

Gon’s roommate had apparently been here already, as his side of the room was completely filled with things. Notable things about his roommates' side of the room were that he had colorful posters of bands on his walls, a lava lamp, and some string lights above his bed. He seemed normal at least. 

Suddenly, the door opened, and his apparent roommate made a beeline for his bed, hopping on, earphones already in. His hair was short and blond, but Gon was absolutely fixated on his arms, which were weirdly toned. Was it rude to stare liket his? Gon stood there nervously. 

“So, what are you studying?” asked Gon, awkwardly trying to make eye contact with the blonde boy sitting on his bed, well, more  _ lounging _ . “I’m going to be an Animal Sciences major…” The guy took his singular headphone out and looked at Gon with a plastic smile. 

“Sorry, didn’t hear you, earphones,” he said, putting the earphone back in, all the while not looking up from the video he was watching. Gon held his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth as he waited for his roommate to even  _ introduce _ himself, but after three minutes, he decided it was a lost cause. Not gonna lie, the dude kind of seemed like a dick. But maybe he was actually busy. He’d find out soon enough. 

Gon decided to use this time to unpack the rest of his things. He hadn’t taken too much with him, mostly just the essentials, but he had brought a few things from home to spice up his room, like the stuffed tiger sitting on top of his bed, or the picture frame holding the beetles he had been collecting for the past year sitting on top of his desk. He smoothed out the fluffy blanket he had at the end of his bed on top of his comforter, and started hanging up some of the pictures he’d taken of animals from back home. In his spare time, sometimes he liked to do some photography. None of it was really  _ good _ and he legitimately  _ only _ photographed critters he found, but it was fun.

After about two hours, his roommate  _ finally _ spoke up. 

“Alright, just finished my video,” said his still unnamed roommate, taking his earphones out. “My friend does livestreams, and I like to tune in to tease him in the chat box, you know?”

“Yeah?” said Gon, awkwardly, trying to ignore the fact that his roommate had spent two hours in this room with him without saying more than three sentences. “I’m Gon, by the way.”

“Shalnark,” said his roommate, plugging his phone into the wall charger and looking through it. “Before you ask, I’m an ECE major.”

“ECE?” asked Gon. Shalnark sighed as if he’d asked the dumbest question he’d ever heard. 

“It’s the department for Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering,” said Shalnark, limp wristing at him. 

“Oh no, I knew that, it just shocked me… you don’t _look_ like an ECE major,” said Gon. He immediately realized that this could be taken as offensive. “Sorry, that just kind of popped out, I didn’t mean to-”  
“I get it,” said Shalnark, rolling his eyes. “I actually shower. And I also like to work out. We’re not all greasy nerds.” Gon nervously laughed at that. There was something about Shalnark that made him feel on edge, as if he didn’t know how to interact with the other man. 

“I’m majoring in Animal Science-”

“Yeah, I heard you earlier,” said Shalnark, scrolling through his phone again. Gon stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. 

“Some of my sophomore friends got invited to a party tonight, and I was thinking about going. Say, you want to come with?” asked Shalnark. Gon pursed his lips. Aunt Mito’s words echoed in his mind. 

_ Now remember, stay away from parties. You need to work on keeping your grades up if you want to keep your scholarship. Besides, parties are full of underaged drinking and drug use, and you wouldn’t want to do that.  _

But this was a college party, the real thing. He wasn’t on perfect terms with his roommate either, but he was nice enough to invite him to one, so wouldn’t it be rude to refuse? After all, he might not get another chance to go to a college party, knowing him. Not that he wouldn’t be able to make friends, but his type of parties typically involved...tamer….activities. 

“Sure,” said Gon, hoping he didn’t sound a bit too enthusiastic. The last thing he wanted was for Shalnark to think he was lame, or something. First impressions were everything. And besides, he might like partying. It couldn’t be that bad, people did it for a reason. And just because everyone else would be drinking or doing drugs, didn’t mean that he would too. 

“Cool. We’re going to go pregame at my friend’s dorm first,” said Shalnark, applying his lipgloss in the mirror. He pressed his lips together to smooth it out. “Oh, and Gon, there’s no way you can go dressed like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re wearing a green sweatshirt and bermuda shorts. What are you, a middle schooler? Let’s see what you have,” said Shalnark, helping himself to Gon’s closet. 

“Hey, that’s my stuff….” Gon’s voice trailed off. It was futile. Shalnark was definitely a force to be reckoned with. 

“Damn, you have nothing cute in here,” said Shalnark, clicking his tongue. He pulled a few hangers off he rod, sticking them back in the wrong places. Gon felt himself getting ticked off but bit his tongue; Shalnark was going to take him to a party, a real college party! “Seriously, where do you shop? Marshalls?”

Gon thought telling him that Aunt Mito had picked out most of his clothes was probably a bad idea so he remained silent as Shalnark stopped judging all of his clothing choices out loud. 

“Alright, here,” said Shalnark, holding out some clothes for him. Them was a short sleeved light green button up shirt, a colorful band tshirt for some band he’d never seen before, and some with some khaki shorts. “You looked scared when I opened up my closet doors so I thought I’d pick something tame for you.”

For a split second, Gon thought that Shalnark had said “lame” instead of “tame”. He picked up the clothes and quickly changed into them. Shalnark being a bit taller than him meant that the clothes were loosely fitting, but keeping the button down open meant he could 

“It looks fine, I think,” said Gon, looking at himself in the mirror.

“This is for when I want to pass straight but not  _ too  _ straight,” said Shalnark offhandedly. Gon gave him an awkward grin. That’s right, he was at college, this wasn’t highschool anymore. No one here knew him, he wouldn’t have to come out ever if he just let people know from the beginning. But did he really want to come out to Shalnark in the dorm room here? How would he even do that…. Gon thought about it for a second before deciding he’d figure that out later. 

“Does it look good, though?” asked Gon, hesitantly. 

“You look like a middle aged Dad at a barbeque, but I mean, that’s not always a bad thing,” said Shalnark, giving Gon the good up and down look. “I mean, people have daddy kinks for a reason.” 

Normally, smiles are associated with the emotion of happiness, or amusement. Gon’s smile was neither of these, but rather, a reaction to how taken aback he was at Shalnark’s statement. 

“Ah, see? I knew you’d loosen up.” 

Right, it was just a joke, no reason for him to be so shaken up about it. Unexpected, as it was, but nothing more than that. He could get used to this. 

“Alright, let me change real quick and then we’ll head out,” said Shalnark, slipping into a purple tank top, backwards cap, and some ripped acid washed jean shorts. 

“Oh, when does the party start?” asked Gon.

“Not for a bit, but we’re going to my friend’s dorm to pregame, they don’t really like to serve freshmen alcohol so we just have to get absolutely wasted before we go partying, you cool with that?” asked Shalnark. 

“Sure,” said Gon, not really sure where this was going. He’d had a few drinks before, and it was really nice of his roommate to invite him out like this. When was he going to get another chance to go to a college party! It was already his first night, and he was lucky enough to go now. He grabbed his phone and tried to put it into his pocket, but they were all fake.

“Ah, don’t worry about your phone, just leave it here. You’ll be with me the whole time so you don’t need to take your keys, either,” said Shalnark. “Besides, you can’t really be in the moment if you’re getting constant texts from everyone.”

“Alright, fine,” said Gon, leaving his phone and key on his desk. Shalnark was right, they were just going out for a little bit. And besides, then he wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally losing either of them. The two of them locked up the room and headed downstairs to the bus stop right outside where the dorm was at around 10 pm. 

“I’ve been on campus before, I’m an expert on the bus system,” said Shalnark. “In fact, I actually picked this dorm for two reasons. One being that it has air conditioning, and the other because it’s close enough to campus that I can walk to classes.”

“Wait, how is that related to the buses?” asked Gon, trying to piece together what Shalnark was talking about.

“Well, all the buses pass by here, so it’s prime real estate to get anywhere you want, duh,” said Shalnark as if this totally didn’t contradict his earlier statement. Gon almost rolled his eyes but didn’t want to be rude this soon in front of his new roommate. 

The bus ride over to Shalnark’s friends’ dorm wasn’t too long, it was only about five minutes. It was a bigger building than the one they were staying in. 

“Don’t even bother swiping your keycard, it won’t work because we don’t live here. We just gotta wait for someone to either leave or enter the building,” said Shalnark, leaning on the outside of the brick wall trying  _ not _ to look like he didn’t belong there. Gon sat down on a bench near there and waited for about six minutes before someone left the building. Shalnark grabbed the door and the two of them slipped inside. 

“Okay, I got a text from Phinks…. They’re on the 6th floor,” said Shalnark as they entered the elevator. “I told him to come let us in but he said he needed time to clean up Feitan’s side of the room. They’re sophomores so they got to move in a day earlier, and apparently that was enough for him to totally make a mess of the place.”

“Ah, you won’t have to worry about that with me, I’m pretty neat,” said Gon, trying to reassure his roommate. Shalnark just nodded his head. “How’d you meet them anyways?”

“Oh, they’re old highschool friends I used to skip class to smoke weed in the parking lot with,” said Shanark nonchalantly. Gon really hoped his face didn’t express the shock he felt on the inside from hearing that. “I’m just messing with you. Don’t worry, we didn’t actually  _ cut _ class, we went after school. Anyways, they’re pretty cool. You’re fine with having people over in the dorm, right? Like, I’m introducing you to my friends so you’re going to at least know them, are you fine with me inviting them over? You can bring your friends over too sometimes.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Gon, immediately feeling a bad premonition about this. Why had he asked now,  _ right before _ he actually met the friends? He dismissed the thought. He hadn’t been making that much small talk with Shalnark, so he supposed this was the way to go. He wasn’t super high maintenance anyways, and besides, it’d be fun to have friends in the dorm all the time, wouldn’t it?

Shalnark knocked on the outside of the door. 

“Hey dickheads, we’re here,” he said before opening the door. Inside was a tall blonde guy in a tracksuit holding a mirror up for a really short guy with black hair parted down the middle who was putting his eyeliner on. 

“Shut the fuck up, you made me smudge it,” hissed the smaller guy. 

“Oh, you brought a friend,” said a feminine voice. Gon nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a girl sit up from lying down on one of the beds. “He’s cool, right?”

“We’ll see,” joked Shalnark. “I’m sure he’s not going to rat us or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. He’s not that type, right Gon?”

“Ah, right!” exclaimed Gon. “I’m chill.”

“Oh your name’s Gon? I’m Phinks,” said the taller blond guy. “Before you ask, I’m a business major, and  _ yes _ , I’m on the track team.  _ No _ , I’m not going to wear this out.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Gon, awkwardly offering a handshake. 

“The gal sitting on top of Phinks’s bed is Shizuku,” said Shalarnk, pointing to her. She was wearing a long sleeved crop top and a high waisted skirt with fishnets. Gon’s eyes drifted to the upside down cross necklace she was wearing. “She’s a psychology major.”

“Oh, I…. like your necklace,” he said, trying to be polite for the odd fashion choice. 

“Mhm,” mused Shizuku as she slipped her thick black rimmed glasses on. “My friend helped me modify it from my baptismal cross.”

“Oh, uh, that was nice of him…”

“Anyways, the twinky e-boy is Feitan, he’s a…. Feitan, what major are you again?” asked Shalnark, scratching the back of his head. 

“First off, I’m neither a  _ twink _ nor an  _ e-boy _ ,” started Feitan, before Phinks put his hand on top of the smaller guy’s head and gave it a little pat. 

“You keep telling yourself that,” teased Phinks. 

“And second off, I’ve been trying to tell you, I’m  _ undecided _ ,” said Feitan, rolling his eyes. “You keep asking me for my major every time we talk about this. I don’t have one yet.”

“Don’t you have a year of schooling down with? Bruh, you need to pick,” said Shalnark. 

“Cut it out, you sound like my parents,” groaned Feitan as he pouted. “I’ll pick when I feel like it.”

“Does that mean you’ll call me Daddy?” asked Phinks. Feitan flipped him off. “Don’t mind him, he’s small and angry, like a little rat dog.”

“I think they’re called chihuahuas,” said Shizuku, adding in. 

“I like the imagery of a rat sized dog better,” said Phinks as Feitan shot him a dirty look. 

“Anyways, what’s your major?” asked Shizuku. 

“Oh, I’m animal science,” said Gon. “My final goal is veterinary school, this is essentially the pre-med for that.”

“Interesting,” said Phinks, leaning on the fridge. “Wait a second, those are  _ your _ clothes.” Phinks turned to face Shalnark.

“I went through his wardrobe, he didn’t have anything,” shrugged Shalnark. 

“He hasn’t been hitting on you, has he?” asked Feitan, putting the finishing touches on his eyeliner. “Hm… he gave you those stupid tight short-shorts…”

“Oh no, really, he hasn’t, don’t worry,” said Gon, feeling his cheeks heat up. “I uh, wouldn’t have worn these if I didn’t like them.”

“Ew, gross, Gon is  _ totally _ not my type,” said Shalnark, making an exaggerated face. “He’s  _ way _ too small.”

“Shalnark is exclusively into dilfs and pro wrestlers,” joked Phinks. 

“I am  _ not _ !”

“Gon, are you gay too?” asked Shizuku, leaning in close. Gon felt his face tense up. “If you’re not, that’s okay. I’m not heterophobic. At least, I think I’m not. Feitan might be.”

“Ahh,” said Gon, shifting his weight nervously back and forth from each foot. He’d never really  _ come out _ before, but from what he just learned about his roommate, and Shizuku’s comment… it seemed as if they were accepting of that kind of thing? It probably wouldn't be a big deal just to tell them… That’s right! This was college, of course he was going to find people that were accepting. “Yeah, I’m gay.” 

It felt really good to say that out loud, especially since everyone in the room just looked like he told them his favorite color. It was cathartic. 

“Ha, knew it,” said Shalnark, giving him a pat on the back. “Still not my type, though.”

“We’re all bi,” said Shizuku. “It just kind of happened like that.”

“Phinks is a morosexual, exclusively attracted to dumbasses,” snickered Feitan.

“Cut it out,” sighed Phinks. “I am  _ not _ a morosexual.”

“Your last girlfriend thought your name was spelled with an F and got drunk off of virgin margarita mix,” deadpanned Shalnark. “Not to mention the fact that you had a crush on Sh-”

“Shut up, shut up,” said Phinks, putting his hand over Shalnark’s mouth. “Uhg gross, he licked me.”

“Serves you right,” smirked Shalnark, leaning over to whisper something to Gon. “He’s totally into Shizuku but we told her that he’s dating Feitan, as a joke, and she actually believed it. She’s a genius and a dumbass at the same time. I’ve literally never seen her study but she somehow has a 4.0. You’ll see...”

“Do you have anyone you know on campus?” asked Phinks, trying to change the subject. 

“Nope!” exclaimed Gon. “Well, besides you guys.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you,” said Feitan, narrowing his heavily eyelined eyes. Phinks was kind of right, he  _ did _ look like an e-boy, or at  _ least _ emo. “We’ve got some of the good stuff for the pregame.”

“Oh, what is it?” asked Shalnark. 

“He’s lying,” said Phinks, giving his friend a poke. 

“What do you mean? You guys just asked me to  _ bring _ something. My parents haven’t drunk from this whiskey bottle in months, maybe years, I doubted they’d miss it,” said Shizuku. Shalnark shrugged, pulling the bottle of whiskey out of the fridge. It was wrapped in a brown paper bag.

“This is from twenty years ago, should be fine. Don’t people age alcohol and stuff?” he asked.

“I think so,” said Gon. He didn’t know too much about drinking or alcohol since Aunt Mito was never a big drinker, but he had heard about different wines and stuff being “aged”. He wasn’t sure if that applied to whiskey, however. 

“How about we let the new kid go first,” said Feitan, giving Gon a little pat on the back. Gon smiled awkwardly. 

“Sure, I’ll take first sip,” said Gon. Shalnark and Phinks exchanged a look before.

“Don’t do that to the poor kid. Feitan,  _ you’re _ going first,” said Shanlark, patting the seat of the chair. Feitan shrugged and rolled his eyes before doing a head jerk to flip some of his hair out of his face.

“Why? Scared?” asked Feitan, with a smirk on his face. “I’ll tap your leg when I’m ready to quit.”

“Try not to choke on it,” said Phinks. 

“Why would he choke on it?” asked Gon. “Is it really strong?”

“Oh...You’ll see,” said Shalnark. Gon had a bad feeling about this. 

“Alright, I’m ready,” said Feitan, tilting his head back up. Nothing could have prepared Gon for what happened next. Phinks stood in front of Feitan, holding him down to the chair by his shoulders while Shalnark tipped the bottle almost 90 degrees straight into Feitan’s mouth. He then started to lower it while Feitan started to gag. 

“He can usually deepthroat a lot,” said Shizuku, as if that was a fun fact about her friend. Gon nodded, not really sure how to react to that. Was there a proper reaction to learning how far someone could deepthroat? He threw up a thumbs up. 

Suddenly, Feitan started to tap Shalnark on the leg, but he and Phinks just laughed for a few seconds before finally pulling the bottle up.

“Uhg, you guys almost waterboarded me with whiskey,” coughed Feitan as he wiped his mouth. 

“Dude, are you already fucking drunk?” asked Shalnark. Feitan flipped him off again.

“Shut up, I’m small,” he said, rolling his eyes. “And  _ no. _ I’m not  _ drunk… _ yet.”

“The party started like five minutes ago so we should wrap up here soon and then head over,” said Phinks, looking at his watch. “We should be late, but not  _ too _ late. Unless you want to also deepthroat some whiskey, let’s get some other stuff out.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass,” said Gon, eyeing the whiskey bottle.

“We have more stuff in the fridge,” said Feitan, tapping the top of it. “So we can make some mixed drinks.”

“Oh, nice,” said Shalnark, looking through the mini fridge. “Who the fuck brought the wine coolers?”

“I didn’t have anything I could feasibly sneak in my luggage,” said Phinks, rolling his eyes. “And it’s not like we could buy anything so I felt that this was fine.”

“Here, can you open this,” said Shalnark, handing the wine cooler and the bottle opener from his keys to Gon.

“Ah, sure,” said Gon, gripping the bottle tightly.  _ Please don’t screw this up please don’t screw this up. _ Luckily, he was able to pop off the cap no problem despite having done this less than five times in his entire life. 

“Dibs,” said Shizuku, grabbing the bottle cap from Gon’s hands and stuffing it into her pocket. Everyone stared at her. “What, I like to collect bottle caps.”

“Since when?” asked Phinks, rolling his eyes. Shizuku adjusted her thick framed glasses as she thought about that for a moment. 

“Well, I’ve  _ started _ collecting bottle caps,” she said, counting something off on her fingers before shaking her hands. “And I need to start somewhere.”

“Do you drink?” asked Shalnark, looking at Gon. “I don’t want to poison you on your first night.”

“Oh, yeah, I do.” The lie just slipped right out of Gon’s mouth. Everyone seemed to be staring at him. “I mean, not  _ too _ often, just occasionally, at home. I’ve never been out drinking with friends before.” The more he spoke the more natural it felt. He didn’t want them to think he was totally lame, he just didn’t have a lot of experience with stuff yet. 

“Sweet,” said Feitan, who was somehow already tipsy. To be fair, he  _ had _ chugged a fair amount of the whiskey bottle, and he was barely over five feet tall so that probably had something to do with it. “Here, let me make you something cool.”

He took the wine cooler, the whiskey bottle, and some Arizona Tea out of the fridge and poured them into an empty water bottle before shaking it up and handing it to Gon. 

“I’ve never tried this combo before so let me know how it is,” said Feitan. His face started to pale up more than it already was, and he looked like he was going to be sick. “I’ll be right back.” Feitan scrambled out of the room, almost tripping over all the stuff he had scattered all over the ground. Gon looked down at the drink Feitan made him. He really  _ shouldn’t _ drink this…. Aunt Mito’s words echoed in his mind, but seriously, when was he going to get another chance like this? College was supposed to be for new experiences, and he wouldn’t get them if he was just going to stay in his shell the whole time….

He took a sip. To say it tasted  _ bad _ was an understatement. For starters, he didn’t even like Arizona Tea, not to mention the fact that it was mixed with  _ both _ a whiskey  _ and _ a fruity wine cooler. 

“How is it?” asked Shizuku, trying to look directly into the cup.

“Uhhh….” He stalled for a second. He  _ really _ didn’t want to drink the whole thing, but if he lied and told them that he liked it, he might  _ have _ to. “It’s a bit weird. Not really my taste.”

“That’s cuz Feitan is shit at making drinks,” said Phinks, taking the cup out of Gon’s hands. “Whatever, I’ll take it though.”

“You can be our designated sober person, Gon,” said Shalnark. “You know, make sure we all get back safe. Don’t worry, we can switch off next time. Or not, we’ll see.”

“Feitan’s been gone for a while,” said Shizuku, looking towards the door. “Should I go check up on him?”

“He’s probably just puking or something,” said Phinks, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I was with him earlier, the dude eats nothing but doritos and mountain dew for lunch. Look-” Phinks opened Feitan’s closet door and pulled out a bin. “-Literally, the only drinks he has are monster, mountain dew, and redbull.”

“Is the tea yours then?” asked Gon.

“Of course not, do I  _ look _ like I drink tea?”

“Yes,” teased Shalnark. 

“Fuck off,” groaned Phinks. “No, the tea’s Shizuku’s. She lives two floors above us.”

“I would’ve lived here too but you guys don’t have air conditioning,” said Shalnark, deciding that he had free reign to sit on top of Feitan’s bed as he took a sip directly from the whiskey bottle. “That feels like it would be  _ torture _ .”

Feitan stumbled back into the room.

“Guys, I almost ran into our RA in the bathroom, I had to stay in the stall until he was done, but he was washing his hands for like five minutes,” said Feitan. “Seriously, how the fuck do you wash your hands for  _ that _ long.”

“Gon didn’t like your drink,” said Shizuku, scrolling through her phone as she sipped on the whiskey bottle she had taken from Phinks. 

“I don’t care,” snapped Feitan. “Let’s just go, I’m itching to actually get to the party.”

“Knowing you, you’re just going to get a cup of jungle juice and pass out under the table… again,” said Phinks. “Pace yourself, dude.”

“Shut uppp,” whined Feitan as he started walking out the door. “Also Shal, you know where the party is, right?”

“Yeah, I went there last year once,” said Shalnark, thinking. “I think I know the way.”

“Oh, good,” said Gon. The five of them left the room and headed down the elevator. By the time they got outside, though, the bus was nowhere to be seen. 

“Oh crap, it’s past 11, the buses only come once every hour now,” groaned Shalnark. 

“You really are the bus expert,” joked Gon. Shalnark ignored him.

“So, are we walking?” asked Phinks. “Who’s going to take Feitan? He’s already wasted.”

“I’m fine…” said Feitan, crossing his arms. 

“Gon’s our designated sober person, right? Let’s just have him babysit,” said Shizuku, pointing off into the distance. “The frat house is on the other side of the clock tower, we should head that way.”

“Alright, sounds good with me. Gon, make sure you don’t lose him,” said Shalnark, pointing at Feitan as they started walking with Phinks and Shizuku in the lead. Gon walked awkwardly next to Feitan, kind of unsure how to actually make conversation with him.

“So, uh, what’s your major?” asked Gon. Feitan looked at him with such an intense look Gon felt like his life might be in danger.

“For the last  _ fucking _ time, I’m undecided,” snapped Feitan. “How can  _ no one  _ remember that?”

“I just realized I  _ do _ remember you saying that, but since it’s not a major my brain just kind of assumed you didn’t tell it to me,” said Gon, scratching the back of his head. “Are you looking into anything in particular, or-”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhg,” groaned Feitan. His tone of voice suddenly changed. “I have to piss.”  
“Didn’t you go before we left?” asked Gon. Feitan stuffed his hands into his pockets. 

“No, I ran into the RA in the bathroom, I was too nervous to pee,” he said, looking around. They were just about to pass a building that had some hedges around it. Gon saw the moment when Feitan got his bright idea. “Hold on, I’m going to go.”

“Wait, there’s lights on inside, someone might see you-”

“Gon, just stand block them from viewing me,” said Feitan, walking through the grass. Gon rolled his eyes and chased after him. “Make sure they can’t see if you’re so worried about it.” Nothing could have prepared him for Feitan straight up dropping his pants all the way to his ankles in front of him. 

“Um,” said Gon, shocked. 

“Stop looking at my dick, turn around,” said Feitan, as if he wasn’t the one to just strip right in front of him. Gon quickly turned around and looked inside the building as he saw a janitor cleaning the place and  _ prayed _ that he wouldn’t look up. 

“Where’d you guys go?” called out Shalnark. 

“I’m pissing,” Feitan replied. Gon sighed. 

“At least he had the decency to not get it on his clothes,” said Phinks. 

“I hate how that’s the  _ at least _ ,” muttered Gon under his breath. He suddenly realized what the others meant about “watching” Feitan. Besides Gon, the others were all at least tipsy, and trying to keep him in check would certainly be a hassle. Once he finished, he pulled his pants up and was ready to just continue on as if nothing happened. 

“Do you have hand sanitizer?” asked Feitan. Gon narrowed his eyes at him. 

“No.”

“Cuck,” whispered Feitan under his breath.

“Hey, what? How does that make me a cuck!” exclaimed Gon. Feitan just stuck his tongue out at him. Gon rolled his eyes. What a brat. 

“Don’t engage,” warned Shalnark. “It’s never worth it.” Gon sighed. This was going to be a long night. 

The longer they walked, the more Gon realized two things. One, that Shalnark had absolutely no idea where he was going, and two, that none of them had checked the forecast before heading out. 

The drops of rain were light at first, but suddenly out of nowhere they started absolutely showering down as if someone had just tipped a bucket over on top of them. 

“What the fuck?” hissed Phinks. “Dude, we’re getting soaked.”

“How is this my fault?” retorted Shalnark. “I can’t control the weather.”

“I can,” said Shizuku. Everyone huddled closer underneath the building they had pressed up against. She pressed her fingers to her temples and started to hum. A crackle of lightning lit up the sky before it started to rain harder.

“Stop, stop, stop,” said Gon, taking her hands off her head. It was superstitious and dumb but he didn’t want to risk it. “So what do you guys think we should do?”

“Shalnark is lost as fuck,” slurred Feitan. He said something after that but it was completely incomprehensible to anyone who didn’t speak drunk Mandarin specifically. 

“Look, I’m not lost, I totally know where we’re going,” said Shalnark pulling out google maps on his phone. “We’re only four blocks away.”

“You said this would be a fifteen minute walk,” said Phinks. Shalnark put his hand on his hip. 

“Okay? And you say you’re 6’2” on your Tinder profile but we both know that’s a lie.”

“I’m 6’2”.... With certain shoes on….” 

“We’re still going? It’s pouring,” said Gon, pointing to the rain. Shalnark shrugged. 

“The party’s indoors.”

And that’s how he got dragged along further into the mess. The rain had soaked his socks, he could feel it every time he stepped down, making a gross squishy sound. It sent shivers up his spine. 

Luckily the rain let up in a few minutes, around the same time they approached the house. Gon breathed a sigh of relief. Oh, what he would give to sit down… What would a frat party be like, anyways? He had seen them in movies before, with loud music and drinking and meeting someone special. Gon’s heart did a little flutter at the thought of it. Wait, that was a possibility! Parties were for networking and meeting people, what if he found a boyfriend there…

His dreams were quickly shattered as he laid eyes on the house. 

More people than he’d ever seen before started to flood out of the house, going every which direction. Gon felt his stomach do a flip as he realized he couldn’t see Shalnark anymore. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. He looked around but the crowd kept weaving around him. Gon felt his head start to spin. This was really fucking bad. Shalnark might not be the best navigator but he at least knew how to get back. 

The crowd started to die down as half of them hopped on a bus they’d caught down the street. Right, the bus, there was probably a bus he could take back. Gon ran up to the bus entrance. 

“I’m trying to get back to the west side dorms,” said Gon in a tizzy. The bus driver gave him a sympathetic look. 

“I’m not headed that way, but if you walk a few blocks south you’ll find a bus stop that has a silver sticker on it, that one should take you over to that direction,” said the driver. Gon thanked her before swearing under his breath. 

If he had his phone with him, Gon would have looked up the definition of “torrential” in reference to “torrential downpour”, and found out that the word itself refers to an excess amount of rain, thus making the whole statement redundant. The path in front of him was laced with puddles greedily eating up the rain falling down. Was it even worth it to step around him if his socks were already soaked all the way through? Gon looked up at the street sign and wondered if he had passed here before on the way there. Which would have potentially worked if he had been paying closer attention earlier. He just didn’t think he had to. He also didn’t think that he would get abandoned off campus on his first night, scared, shivering, and alone in the dark with nothing but a street light or two to give him light. The situation officially sucked. 

Shalnark mentioned that the ones this late at night came every hour or so. Gon made his way over to the bus stop and sat down on the bench underneath the little bus shelter. It felt good to sit down, but man, what the fuck had just happened? Gon sat there, twiddling his thumbs, until he saw a figure running straight towards him. What the hell? Was he going to get mugged? Was this the end?

The figure slowed down and joined him under the bus stop, panting heavily before sitting down. 

“You’re not going to mug me, are you?” asked Gon to break the tension. He was  _ not _ prepared for how  _ cute _ the guy running had been. His hair was dyed a silvery white, and with the hazy light from the bus stop he could make out his sapphire blue eyes. 

“I mean, do you want me to?” asked the guy. He couldn’t have been any older than Gon was. 

“Not really,” joked Gon. “I’m Gon, by the way.” If he was going to wait here for a while he may as well make some small talk with his captive audience. 

“Killua,” said the other student, holding out his hand for Gon to shake. “I’m a freshman, how about you?”

“Same, I’m an animal sciences major,” said Gon, eyes lighting up. Someone his age!

“Dope. I’m ECE.” Gon winced as he heard that. So was  _ Shalnark. _

“Why were you running?” asked Gon, the curiosity getting the best of him.

“Uhg, my stupid brother saw me there, or at least, I think he did,” grumbled Killua, putting his hands behind his head. “I’m not supposed to be partying, neither is he but I didn’t think he’d  _ be _ there.”

“Speaking of which, why was everyone leaving the party?” asked Gon. Killua cocked his head. 

“Oh, you didn’t know? One of the neighbors called the cops to shut it down,” said Killua, as if it were a matter of fact everyone should know. “To be fair, if the cops hadn’t been called, the fire department would’ve, you should’ve seen the amount of things people were trying to smoke.”

“So… Do you like parties and that kind of thing?” asked Gon awkwardly. Killua raised an eyebrow. 

“I mean, they’re alright, I kind of just went to try to make some friends,” he said. “But everyone there was boring as fuck.”

“Ah, I tagged along with my roommate, Shalnark, he’s kind of an asshole though, he left me there,” said Gon. “We showed up right when it was getting shut down.”

“Damn, that sucks,” said Killua. “He sounds like a piece of work.”

“Yeah, he took me to pregame with a few of his friends and they all got kinda tipsy or drunk,” said Gon. He tapped his fingers together. “And one of them peed in the bushes right in front of me.” He added it initially as a fun fact but suddenly cringed about how that’s not something you would just casually tell someone you just met, especially not someone as cute as Killua was. Gon took a deep breath, shit, he needed to calm down. 

“Like just, in plain view?” asked Killua. Gon breathed a sigh of relief. Oh good, Killua didn’t think he was weird. 

“Yeah, no shame or anything,” said Gon. 

“Damn, the balls on that kid-” 

Gon choked on air as Killua said this, causing the two of them to burst out laughing afterwards. The two of them talked a bit more, before Gon saw the bus approaching. He felt a bit sad that this was when he was going to leave Killua. The two of them hit it off, they totally could’ve been friends. 

Gon walked up to the front of the bus. 

“I’m trying to get to the west dorms, do you go there?” he asked. 

“Oh, me too!” exclaimed Killua. 

“Yeah, I’ll take you,” said the driver. “It’s raining cats and dogs out there.”

“Honestly! You should’ve seen it earlier,” said Gon as he walked on. The two of them sat down on the empty bus, next to each other. There was an awkward silence. 

“Hey, you seem decent-”

“Decent! Wow, good to know I’m tolerable,” joked Gon. Killua’s cheeks blushed slightly. 

“Shut up. I was going to suggest we trade contact information, but forget it now,” he snapped. Gon flinched. 

“I left my phone back in my dorm room,” he said sheepishly. Killua looked at him as if Gon had just told him he liked to snack on glass. 

_ “What?” _

“I know, I know, bad decisions,” said Gon, waving his hand at Killua. “I didn’t think I was going to get separated from Shalnark, so it would be fine if I just left my phone back. I think I’m wearing women’s pants, they have no pockets.” 

Killua burst out laughing at that, causing Gon to roll his eyes. 

“I’m serious! I finally understand why girls complain about not having enough room to store stuff!” retorted Gon. 

“I mean, now that you mention it, they are a bit tight for men’s pants…”

“Bold of you to notice that,” said Gon, putting his hand on his hip. Killua laughed. “But yeah, they’re Shalnark’s.”

“He sounds like a riot,” said Killua. He looked out the window for a second, before looking back over at Gon. “But I have my phone with me, so I can still put your number into it and then text you so you have mine.”

Gon froze again. Killua was going to think he was a moron.

“I… don’t have my number memorized…”

“WHAT!”

“Stop laughing at me, I’m not that funny,” lamented Gon. Killua wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. Oh man, he looked like a total idiot now. 

“Why don’t you know your own number?” asked Killua. Gon pouted. 

“I don’t need to call myself, so…”

Killua’s smile faded, he looked like he had just realized something. 

“If you don’t want my number, it’s fine,” he said awkwardly. Gon felt his heart skip a beat. No! That’s not what he meant at all. 

“Ahg, no, I do, I’m just…. I have an idea. You tell me your number, and I’ll try to memorize it so I can text you as soon as I get back,” suggested Gon. Killua’s eyes lit up. 

Gon whispered the numbers Killua told him to himself a few times, playing it over and over again in his mind afterwards. Killua seemed really cool, it would suck if they couldn’t meet up after this. 

“Isn’t this your stop?” asked Gon as he noticed the orange letters denoting Killua’s dorm. Killua rolled his eyes. 

“Dude, no offense, but you seem like a bit of a hot mess right now, I’ll get you to your dorm and take the reverse bus back,” said Killua. Gon felt his heart skip a beat. Killua was doing all of this just for him? For someone he’d just known for less than two hours? Gon couldn’t stop the dumb grin that spread across his face. 

“You know you don’t have to-”

“I want to, though. You’ll probably forget my number so I’d never know if you made it back safely,” said Killua, sticking his hands in his pockets. Gon’s golden eyes glistened intently towards the silver haired boy. This was such a different reception than he’d gotten from Shalnark. First of all, Killua could be a bit of a tease, sure, but he wasn’t as outright rude as Shalnark was. Second of all, he at least somewhat cared if Gon was going to be okay. Man, he  _ really _ needed to remember those digits. 

It wasn’t long before Gon’s stop came up.

“So this is it, huh,” said Gon as they got off the bus. 

“Quit talking like I’m seeing you off to war,” said Killua, rolling his eyes. “I’m sure even if you don’t remember my number we’ll run into each other eventually.”

“With that white hair of yours you could actually just be a ghost that disappears as soon as we depart, and then I’d never see you again,” joked Gon. Killua ran a hand through his hair. 

“Shit dude, you’re actually spot on,” Killua said between laughs. “But yeah, it’s been nice chatting with you, Gon, I’ll see you sometime later?”

“Yeah, see you,” said Gon, giving him a little wave. He ran up the steps to his dorm room, turning around one more time to make sure Killua hadn’t  _ actually _ disappeared. He saw him making his way to the bus stop on the other side of the street. At least it wasn’t raining anymore. 

Gon took the elevator up to his room, before realizing that he didn’t have his key. Fuck. He banged on the door a few times. 

No response. 

He hit the door again. 

No response.

A bit pissed off, Gon kicked the lower part of the door a few times. It was possible that Shalnark could’ve just never come home, but Gon had a sneaking suspicion he was just being annoying. 

Suddenly the door swung open. Shalnark did  _ not _ look great. His hair was all frazzled, makeup smeared, and he looked completely and utterly pissed off. But laying eyes on Gon, his expression changed slightly. 

“Whoa, you’re alive.”

_ “That’s _ your response!” exclaimed Gon. Shalnark pursed his lips, leaning on the side of the door. 

“Seriously, I had no idea where you went, we looked for you but no one could find you so we decided to cut our losses,” explained Shalnark. Gon felt his eye twitch. The audacity of this bitch. 

“Glad to know I was missed,” said Gon sarcastically before shutting the door and making a beeline for his phone. He whispered the digits under his breath another time before typing them in. Time to send Killua a text. 

**Gon:** I made it back okay.

Gon watched his phone for a few minutes before clicking the screen off and setting it down. He sighed. Maybe he’d fucked up and written the number down wrong. That was always a possibility. He changed into his pajamas, went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, then took one more look over at his phone. His eyes lit up as soon as the screen did. 

**???:** lit

**???:** is ur roommate back?

Gon smiled at his phone, subbing in Killua’s name. His hands hovered around the heart button. Oh, what the hell, it wasn’t like he was ever going to see it. 

**Gon:** Unfortunately, he left me for dead >:(

**Killua** **♥️:** bruhhhh

**Killua** **♥️:** not cool

**Killua** **♥️:** keep his pants as payback tho they look good on you ;)

Gon blushed as he pushed his head into the pillow. He looked back up at his screen. 

**Gon:** Your words, not mine….

Gon fell asleep texting Killua at some point, but one thing he did know, is that despite the absolute shitshow Shalnark brought him to, he wouldn’t have met him. Maybe college wasn’t going to be so bad. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This fic is going to be a collection of college stories featuring the hxh characters in my college au. There will be other character combinations and ships getting focus but I will update the tags for those as I add on. The rating may turn to E later on, I will update that before posting anything explicit. This has been a project of mine I've been wanting to write for almost 8 months now that I resparked love for, so I have tons of ideas for it. 
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoy it!!! Let me know!


	2. The Textbook Dealer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a few domestic dealings before classes start featuring some misunderstandings, arguments, and the mysterious textbook dealer.

“Hey, Gon, question, how do you feel about dealing with relationships? Like if one of us starts dating someone, and using the room?” asked Shalnark. It was Sunday morning, and Gon had already checked his phone no less than eight times to see if Killua texted him any after he woke up… just a few hours later. Unfortunately, he hadn’t.

“I mean, as long as we text I think it’s cool,” said Gon. Suddenly, he realized what Shalnark meant. Wait, if he started dating someone that meant they could have some “alone time” in the room… The gears in Gon’s mind started to turn. “You know, heads ups and stuff.”

“Yeah, totally,” said Shalnark. Suddenly there was a knock on the door loud enough to scare Shalnark into bumping his hip on the side of his desk. “What the fuck?” He walked over and opened the door. He looked down. 

A guy a head shorter than Shalnark looked up at him, with ear length orange hair. 

“Hello?”

“Hi! I’m Pokkle, your RA. We’re having a meeting for everyone on this floor in the common area in about five minutes,” said Pokkle. Shalnark rolled his eyes. 

“So, do we  _ have _ to attend?” asked Shalnark. Pokkle looked into the room over towards Gon.

“Do you see that dent in the wall by your bed?” said Pokkle. Gon looked over.

“Yeah, it was there when we moved in though,” added Gon. Pokkle raised an eyebrow. 

“No it wasn’t. Damage to property’s kinda pricy, though, but I’m sure if you show up to the meeting, we won’t really have an issue with it. See you at the meeting!” said Pokkle, closing the door. 

“Uhg, he can’t do that, can he?” asked Gon.

“Who do you think files the damage reports, it’s our RAs,” said Shalnark through gritted teeth. “Fuckin’ bullshit if you ask me.”

“This is going to be a long school year,” sighed Gon. Five minutes later, and the two of them congregated with the other people on their floor in the common area. Gon found the clipboard and signed in with his name and room number to prove he attended. 

“Hi! Welcome to the RA meeting, I’m Pokkle, one of the RAs on this floor, unfortunately the other RA couldn’t make it, but I’ll give you some time to get acquainted and know each other, you’re going to be in the same building for an entire year so you may as well make some friends. Go ahead and talk to people you don’t know, or something, make it fun and ask each other about majors and where you’re from! Oh, and get some fun facts!” 

Everyone looked like they mutually wanted to assassinate him.

A guy about Gon’s height walked up to him. 

“Zushi,” said the guy, throwing his hand out for one of those “bro” handshakes. There was a certain art to it, staying just far enough from the other guy that your hands could still grab, but not  _ too _ close. Gon grabbed his hand and shook it. 

“Gon,” said Gon. “I’m in 405.”

“423, I’m in the other wing,” said Zushi. He looked around the crowd, eyes squinted slightly. 

“Are you looking for someone?” asked Gon. 

“More or less,” said Zushi. He took his backwards baseball cap off and ran his hand through his hair before putting it back on. “I’m trying to look for a plug on this floor.”

“Oh, there’s one by the couch over there,” said Gon. Zushi looked at him like he was speaking another language. 

“Not a wall outlet, a  _ dealer, _ for  _ weed,” _ said Zushi. Gon’s eyes widened.  _ OH. _ That’s what he meant. He nodded twice. “But it looks like this floor’s mostly dweebs.”

Gon pursed his lips. Zushi would probably think he was lame if he knew nothing about weed. 

“I think my roommate might be one,” said Gon. Zushi turned to face him. 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I saw him smoke something this morning,” said Gon. “He has a lot of stuff he keeps in this bag of his.”

“Holy shit dude, which one is he?” asked Zushi. Gon pointed over to where Shalnark was on his phone by himself. Zushi nodded intently. “Well, let’s find out.”

“Yeah, sure, I can do that,” said Gon, before realizing what his little white lies and assumptions had led him into. Wait. Shalnark said that he and his friends used to smoke weed in highschool, that meant that if he wasn’t a dealer himself he knew how to get it, which he could use to help Zushi. But what was he supposed to do? Go up and ask him, “hey, are you a plug?”

That’s exactly what he did. 

“You’re a plug, right?” Gon rocked back and forth on his heels. Shalnark took an earphone out. 

“Huh?”

“I-I’ve seen you smoking,” said Gon. Shalnark scrunched up his nose. 

“What the fuck? No you haven’t!”

Gon suddenly understood what was going on. Ah, he was right, of course he wouldn’t want to admit that with their RA right on this floor. Silly him. 

Gon lowered his voice. “I mean, between you and me, I saw you take a puff this morning.”

“Gon. That’s my inhaler,” said Shalnark, with a straight face. “I have asthma.”

Gon stared at him blankly, feeling his cheeks redden. 

“Did you seriously not know what an inhaler was?” asked Shalnark, dumbfounded.

“I dunno, you were really secretive about using it,” he snapped. 

“You’re killing me, Gon,” said Zushi. Shalnark ruffled Gon’s hair as he pouted. This was totally embarrassing, how could he have mistaken an inhaler for… some kind of weed. A juul maybe? Did those even have weed in them? Gon tried to push the thoughts out of his mind. Pokkle had started talking again, but he wasn’t really paying attention, it was mostly logistical stuff that he was likely to learn through fucking up and getting yelled at anyways. His eyes started wandering, until they found someone who made a beeline towards them. 

“Hi! I’m Neon!” said a girl with electric blue hair, several beads dangling off her sidebangs. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. “I’m a freshman, how about you guys?”

“Freshmen also,” said Gon.

“This is such a drag, we’ve already signed in, do you guys want to ditch and go to my room?” she asked. 

Everyone paused to listen to the rest of Pokkle’s speech. 

“...So yes if anyone pukes in the sink and leaves it there, we’ll be collecting a ‘puke fine’, $1 from everyone unless whoever did it fesses up and pays $5,” explained Pokkle, looking way too excited to be talking about puke. “And remember, quiet hours start at 8 pm on week nights, 10 pm on weekends.”

“Sure, I’m down,” said Gon. Zushi and Shalnark shrugged but decided to tag along. The four of them snuck out of the meeting while Pokkle was explaining the rest of his speech. They walked down the hallway on the other wing of the floor. Eventually they made it to Neon’s room. 

“Welcome to my room!” said Neon, flipping her worm on a string bead curtain out of the way. Shalnark and Zushi exchanged a weird glance, meanwhile Gon had to restrain himself from grabbing one of them. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Neon, noticing his hesitance. Gon grimaced. 

“I’ve never uh, really been in a girl’s room before,” said Gon, his excuse more awkward than he meant it to be. He sat down on Neon’s blue and pink fluffy rug. 

“Perv,” teased Zushi. Shalnark smirked knowingly. 

“Wrong tree,” Shalnark said under his breath. “Do you have cards or something?”

“What kind?” asked Neon. Shalnark stared at her blankly. 

“To play games with.”

“I have tarot cards too, forgive me for clarifying,” Neon said to herself before opening up one of her glittery boxes on her bookcase. She dug around for a few minutes before pulling some out. “You know, you’re so impatient. Are you an Aries?”

“A what?” asked Zushi. 

“It’s the sun sign of your zodiac, it’s dependent on what day you were born” said Neon, shuffling the deck of cards. “Aries are often times a bit impatient and hotheaded like he is.” She dealt a card to Shalnark first before continuing with the rest. Shalnark raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, I’m born at the beginning of June,” said Shalnark.

“Cancer?” asked Gon.

“No, Gemini,” said Neon. 

“All that stuff is bullshit anyways, you do know that, right?” asked Shalnark, trying to get the other two into it. Gon didn’t know it was possible to dish the cards out in a passive aggressive manner but Neon was somehow perfecting that. 

“So I make one mistake and you discount the entire science? Honey, there’s more that goes into it than just the day of your birth, there’s also the time, and the location, and the stars above,” she said, keeping the pissed off kind of smile on her face. 

“Oh, my bad for not being fluent in a bullshit  _ science,” _ snarked Shalnark. Zushi and Gon exchanged a glance. Neon shuffled the remaining cards and stuck them in the center. She then folded her hands on top of her knees as she sat on her heels, and turned to face him. 

“What’s your major?” asked Neon. 

“I’m in Computer engineering, it’s coupled with electrical engineering but-”

“Imaginary numbers aren’t real. Bullshit science,” said Neon, tilting her head playfully. Shalnark’s eye twitched. 

“No, imaginary numbers aren’t fake, the name is misleading to the fact they  _ do _ exist, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to calculate the square roots of imaginary numbers, not to mention that they show up often in Laplace transforms and-”

“Math is fake. Numbers don’t exist, they’re just placeholders for quantity,” said Neon. If it were possible, steam would have been pooling out of both Gon and Zushi’s ears right now. 

“Fine, what’s your major? Let me guess, something  _ also _ bullshit,” said Shalnark, crossing his arms. 

“Psychology,” said Neon. “I find the human mind quite fascinating.”

“Wow, what a fluffy major,” scoffed Shalnark. Gon winced at this. Why was he being such an asshole? 

“Hey, Shalnark, maybe you shouldn’t-”

“Gon, you seem like a nice guy and all but if you’re going to suggest we start using “I statements” to express our feelings to each other, or some other corny shit like that, I’m going to  _ fucking  _ lose it,” said Shalnark in the calmest voice Gon had ever heard him use. 

Gon shut up.

Seriously, what was wrong with the guy? It was eerie how calm yet pissed off he was at the same time. Gon didn’t trust people like that. 

“Who pissed in your cheerios,” sighed Zushi. It was as if they had a mutual idea but the two of them started engaging in a thumb war while the other two continued their back and forth. 

“I find it very hurtful that you come into  _ my _ room and discount my interests like this. You’re in  _ my _ domain now. If you don’t like it,  _ leave,” _ said Neon. Shalnark grabbed his water bottle and got up. 

“Damn, if you’re going to be like that, maybe I  _ will _ leave,” he said, breaking from the circle. “Weirdo.”

“Up yours!” said Neon, flipping him off. Shalnark slammed the door shut. 

“Fucking Geminis,” said Neon under her breath, readjusting her ponytail. She took a few quick breaths and then popped back to normal with a cheerful demeanor. “So, where were we? Neither of you are Geminis, right?”

Gon didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t really sure how to process what he just witnessed, at  _ all. _

“Capricious,” said Zushi. 

“Capricorn,” corrected Neon. 

“May 5th?”

“Taurus. Okay, we’re good,” said Neon. “I’m a Scorpio.” 

The three of them sat there blankly. 

“What game were you dealing out for?” asked Gon.

“Hearts,” said Neon. “It’s the only card game I know how to play.”

Why did she own a card deck if she only knew how to play one game? 

“I don’t know how to play,” said Zushi. 

“Alright, I’ll teach you,” said Neon. Gon’s attention started to drift as he noticed his phone had an unread message on it. It would be rude if he phone snubbed the two of them right now, but on the off chance it was Killua messaging him, he didn’t want to miss it. Gon’s cheeks flushed pink when he realized that it was, in fact, Killua messaging him. 

**Killua** **♥️** **:** Hey what’s up? Wanna hang out later?  
Gon bit his bottom lip and froze as he noticed Neon and Zushi were both staring directly at him. 

“What?”

“Oh? A crush?” asked Neon, eyes lighting up. 

“Is she cute?” asked Zushi. Gon’s cheeks flushed a deeper pink. 

“Let me see!”

“I, uh, well,” he started stammering, before relenting and letting the two of them peak at the message. “It’s really not much but-”

“Gon, you’re blushing profusely, and you gave him a little heart next to his name,” said Neon, giving him a little poke on the nose. “Obviously if asking to hang out makes you act like this, it’s a little bit more than “not much”.”

“He? That’s a girl’s name, it ends in an a,” said Zushi. 

“No, it’s a guy’s name for sure, I could have sworn I’ve heard it before,” said Neon, scrunching up her face to think. 

“But that means Gon’d have a crush on a guy!” said Zushi. 

“So?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” said Gon, grabbing his phone back. “Killua’s a guy.”

“Cool,” said Zushi. “I’m totally chill with that. Like, really cool with it. If you’re into guys. And all that. It’s like, we just vibe separately and-”

“Overkill, Zushi,” said Gon, giving him a little pat on the shoulder. 

“Right, sorry,” said Zushi awkwardly. 

“Well, we’re free to hang, why don’t you invite him over?” asked Neon. “

“Really? Sure!” said Gon, beaming. He sent a quick text to Killua with Neon’s room number.

The first three games of hearts could  _ not _ have taken longer. Gon probably should have listened to the rules while Neon was explaining them to Zushi, but he honestly just couldn’t wait to see Killua again. His stomach did a little flip. Did they have enough in common to have another quippy conversation? They’d gotten along so well last time, hopefully they had the same energy this time. 

The moment the door opened, Gon spun around. But it wasn’t Killua who entered. Instead, it was a girl, presumably Neon’s roommate. 

“Hi Canary!” exclaimed Neon, waving at her. Canary hung her bag up on the hook by the door before closing it. 

“Can you let me know the next time you’re having friends over?” asked Canary, a bit irked. She grabbed a book and climbed up onto her bed to get comfy. 

“Do you want to play hearts with us?” asked Neon. 

“Not really.”

“Maybe next time,” said Neon, awkwardly, before shuffling the deck again. Another two games, and there was a knock on the door. This time, it  _ did _ belong to Killua. 

“Sup, I’m Killua,” he said, giving them a little wave as he stood in the doorway. “I would’ve texted for one of you guys to let me in but someone was leaving so I managed to snag the door.” Now standing next to him in ample light, Gon had time to take in his features a bit better. Namely his  _ height. _

Simply put, Killua was a  _ lot _ taller than he remembered from last night. If he had to guess, he’d say Killua was just around the six foot marker, quite a few inches taller than him. 

“I’m Neon, this is Zushi, and this is my roommate-”

“Canary?”

“Killua?”

Canary dropped her book from her hands and Killua tensed up, gripping the doorknob harder. 

“Wait, you two know each other?” asked Gon. 

“Know? I dated him,” said Canary, rolling her eyes. Killua crossed his arms. 

“We were fifteen, we didn’t even kiss,” he said, as if that were the dealbreaking part. 

“And who’s fault was that? You never took me out on real dates either, and the one time you did your brother chaperoned the entire time. The dude creeps me out, he kept asking me weirdly personal questions....”

“I mean, as someone who’s a feminist, I didn’t see roles in the relationship, so you could have well suggested that we go on dates every once in a while,” said Killua. 

Canary raised an eyebrow at him.

“You? Feminist? Since when?” asked Canary. 

“I simply don’t believe in gender roles. If a woman wants to pay for the meals on dates, I don’t see what’s stopping her!” exclaimed Killua. Canary and Killua both burst out into laughter. 

“What just happened?” asked Zushi.

“Don’t worry, we’re doing a bit, we’re not actually mad at each other,” said Canary, wiping some laughter tears from her eyes. “I’m not even into men.”

“I was just shocked to see her,” said Killua. “But I meant that. I think it’s simply unfair that men are expected to pay for every date-”

“Dude, you’re loaded, you should be expected to pay for every date regardless,” teased Canary. Killua rolled his eyes and sat down in the circle with everyone else. 

“I…. Wow, you had me convinced you were legit mad at each other from a past relationship,” admitted Gon. Killua’s cheeks flushed a slight pink. 

“Oh don’t get me wrong, he’s a shitty boyfriend,” said Canary, not looking up from her book. 

“Canary, please, we were fifteen,” whined Killua. 

“Okay and?” 

“As much as I’m loving this drama, well…” said Neon, nudging Gon with her elbow. Gon grimaced and pushed her back. “Well, Gon?” Zushi started paying attention again instead of spacing out while staring at the wall and raised his eyebrows. 

“Hm?” said Killua, confused as to why everyone was fixated on Gon. 

“We should compare schedules, see what classes we have together,” said Gon, awkwardly trying to change the subject. He scrolled on his phone until he found his classes. A lot of them were major specific, but he had a few gen ed classes. 

“Oh, cool, we have calc at the same time, do you have Genthru as your professor?” asked Zushi, looking over at Gon’s phone. 

“Yeah, 8 am,” said Gon. 

“Calc 1, right? Why is it at 8? You do know there’s a 2 pm session,” said Killua. 

“I have one of my business classes at 2, this was the only time I could fit it,” said Zushi. 

“Early bird gets the worm?” suggested Gon. Killua looked at him in awe. 

“You’re telling me you willingly took an 8 am class,” said Killua. 

“Let me guess, you’re one of those people who sleeps in until noon every day?” asked Gon. Killua rolled his eyes. 

“I mean, I  _ can _ wake up earlier,” said Killua. “I just don’t see why anyone would force themselves to.”

“I like to have morning classes so I can consolidate all my classes in the morning and it frees up my afternoon for homework,” said Gon. 

“You… schedule your homework…”

“If I don’t schedule it I won’t do it,” said Gon, a bit embarrassed. Neon gave him a sympathetic glance. 

“Don’t worry, I do too,” said Neon. She pulled out her planner, complete with little post it notes sticking out of it and a plethora of highlighted dates and times. “Why, what do you do?”

Killua scratched the back of his head. 

“I mean, depends on what percent of the grade homework is worth. If it’s less than 10 percent, it’s not worth it to do it,” said Killua. Everyone looked at him. “What! It’s just busywork anyways.”

“I’m in awe and I’m also terrified,” said Zushi, adjusting his cap. “Never let me adopt that habit.” Killua shrugged. 

“Are you a Cancer?” asked Neon. 

“I hope not,” said Killua. 

“I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you misheard the question, when’s your birthday?” asked Gon.

“July seventh.”

“Yes! I was right!” said Neon. “Anyways, Gon, it looks like you and I have chemistry together.”

“Cool,” said Gon, glad that he would at least know Zushi in calc and Neon in chemistry. He was a bit frustrated that he didn’t have any classes with Killua. “It sucks we don’t have any classes together, though.”

“I mean, it’s the same teacher for both sections of Calc, we can both cram for midterms together,” said Killua. Gon shrugged his shoulders. Cramming for midterms sounded like hanging out just one day every few months. Uhg, why had he decided to make a friend before he even had classes? That was a surefire way to not have any classes in common with him. 

“Wait, I know a guy selling the calc textbook, he told me to meet him at the northmost bus stop at noon, if I head out now I can grab it,” said Zushi. “Do you guys want to come with?”

“Sure,” said Gon.

“Why?” asked Neon. 

“I kind of don’t want to go alone because I’m bored,” admitted Zushi. 

“I’ll go if Gon goes,” said Killua. Neon gave Gon a wink. 

“I’ll stay here, you guys have fun,” said Neon. Zushi gave her a fistbump. 

“Alright cool, let me get your number so we can hang again, I’m over in 423,” said Zushi. 

“Lit,” said Neon, exchanging information with the rest of them.

It wasn’t long before they exited the building and hopped on a bus to take them to the north stop. 

“You know, Gon and I are somewhat experts at the bus system,” said Killua. Gon smirked. 

“Yeah, last night we were way far off campus and managed to find the right bus to bring us back,” said Gon, leaving out the part where he desperately asked the bus driver for some help getting back to his dorm. 

“Oh?” said Zushi, raising an eyebrow. “And… What were you two doing so far off campus…. At night… Together….” Gon facepalmed. This could not be more awkward. 

“Crime,” said Killua, with a straight face. “We killed a man and dumped his body in the creek. It should’ve made its way down here by now, if we take a detour maybe we can see it floating in the water.”

“Dead bodies sink,” said Zushi. 

“Depends, if it’s started to decompose it’ll float,” said Gon. “Because of all the gases the body leaks out.”

“You were kidding about the body, right?” asked a random unsuspecting fourth person on this side of the bus. She had bright pink hair pulled into a messy ponytail, and looked completely done with their shit. Killua shot her a glare.

“If I really killed someone do you think I’d talk about it in broad daylight like this?” asked Killua. 

“I don’t even know you,” said the girl, rolling her eyes as she put her earphones back in. 

“Then why say anything?” scoffed Killua. “Nah, we were just at a party that got busted.”

“Dude, next time we should all go,” said Zushi. “But how’d it get busted?”

“Killua killed a man,” said Gon, furthering the joke. 

“Happens to the best of us,” said Killua pensively. All three of them cracked up. 

Eventually, the bus stopped and all four of them got off. The girl made a beeline for the apartment building while the rest of them hung around the bus stop. 

Gon spotted a man with even bushier eyes than Zushi had. Seriously, how was that possible! He looked a bit too old to be a student, but he was carrying a binder with him. Perhaps this was the man Zushi was looking for? 

“Hey, are you selling the calc 1 textbook?” asked Gon.

“Why yes, I am,” said the man. Gon looked around. 

“Well, can we see it?” asked Gon. The man smiled and opened up the binder.

“What the fuck?” said Killua. He grabbed it out of the man’s hands. “Where’s the rest of it?”

“Oh, someone already bought chapters five and six,” said the man. Zushi grabbed the binder from Killua to take a look.

“I, what, the full thing isn’t here?” he said confused, as if Killua hadn’t gotten an answer out of the man four seconds before. 

“Yeah, it’s $20 per chapter,” said the man, stealing the binder back from them. “So pick which chapters you want and we can make a deal for it.”

“What did you  _ do _ to that poor book!” exclaimed Gon. The man shrugged. 

“Hey, at least this way you can avoid buying chapters you’re not going to use,” he said as if he were doing them a favor.

“You do realize that you’re upcharging it, though.”

“It’s still cheaper than a brand new book, and look, there are only 14 chapters, minus 5 and 6 which were already bought, so it’s only $240 for the rest of it even if you wanted to buy the whole thing.”

Killua pulled out his phone. 

“One second, let me check the syllabus,” he said, scrolling. Everyone waited a few minutes before he finally closed it. “Okay, we’ll take chapters 2-4, and then 8.”

“I only have $20 on me,” said Zushi. “I misread your ad, Mr….”

“Please, call me Zepile,” said the textbook seller. Zushi nodded. Gon put his hands in his pockets. Shoot, why had he come out here in the first place if he hadn’t brought any money? Zushi had said he just wanted the company but…. 

“It’s okay, I’ll cover the rest,” said Killua, taking out his wallet. He handed Zepile three twenties. Zepile handed over the precious book chapters to them. Killua snatched them out of his hands. 

The second they got on the return bus, everyone seemed to deflate a bit. 

“What the hell was that?” asked Zushi. “Who does that to a textbook! It’s kind of genius, or is it?”

“I’m a bit pissed we don’t have chapters 5 and 6 because we need those for class, but whatever, I’ll just google that stuff anyways. It’s math, it’s all on the internet anyways,” said Killua. 

“Sorry I didn’t pay for it,” said Gon, a bit embarrassed that he didn’t contribute to the haul. Killua shot him a sympathetic glance. 

“Don’t worry about it, dude, it’s like Canary said, my parents are loaded, I should be paying for stuff when I have the chance,” he said nonchalantly. 

“I thought that was for date stuff…” said Gon, with a slight smirk. Killua stuck his hands in his pockets and looked out the window, ignoring Gon’s comment.

“Zushi, seriously, where did you  _ find _ that guy?” asked Killua.

“Reddit.”

“Never do that again,” said Killua. 

“You know, we could have just turned him down,” said Zushi, realizing that they were under no obligation to actually buy the textbook once they realized it was being sold in parts. 

“Were we accidentally peer pressured?” asked Gon. 

“Well, he didn’t actually pressure us or anything, we sort of just caved?” said Zushi, confused. 

“I see we’re getting the full freshmen experience after all,” sighed Killua. “There’s a reason the upperclassmen make fun of us. Anyways, you seem…. Fine…. Zushi.” Gon immediately noticed that he seemed less enthusiastic to tell this to Zushi and hoped that maybe their meeting last night had left some sort of impression on him after all. 

Unfortunately Zushi had other plans.

“Do you like guys?”

Killua’s face turned red.

Huh?

_ Huh? _

_ Zushi what the everloving fuck????? _

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not into guys that way, I just have a friend who is, and I was just curious because we were talking about it earlier today and I never would have guessed he was gay,” rambled Zushi. Gon chewed on his bottom lip. How could Zushi just talk about this kind of stuff casually? He sighed. He may as well come out. If Killua wasn’t okay with it, he’d rather know now before he was closer friends with him so it wouldn’t feel as bad cutting him off.

“It’s me, I’m the friend,” said Gon, giving Killua a smile. 

“Oh!” Killua’s face lightened up a lot. “If you must know, I’m pan. I’m not super out or anything, but I don’t mind telling people if they’re also gay.” Gon tried his best not to outright smile at this lest Killua find it weird, but he was definitely relieved. Not that this meant Killua even  _ liked _ him but at least he had more than a 0% chance of him returning his feelings now. But the bus, cucker of all conversations, started to roll up to the stop. 

“I have a RA meeting at 2, so I gotta head back to my dorm. See you tomorrow? Lunch maybe?” suggested Killua. 

“Yeah! I’ll text you!” said Gon as Killua left the bus. He gave him a little wave. As soon as the bus started moving again, Zushi elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Dude, he totally likes you,” he said. Gon rolled his eyes. 

“It’s too early to tell.”

“He wouldn’t have paid for the textbook if it was just the two of us,” said Zushi. “And besides, the only reason he tagged along was because you decided to come.”

“Or, he’s just looking for friends so far. I don’t want to ask him out now or anything, that might freak him out. We’ve known each other for less than 24 hours, that’s way too soon,” said Gon. Zushi raised one of his caterpillar eyebrows at him.

“What do you mean? Haven’t you ever walked up to someone and asked them out?”

“No??? People do that?”

“Yes?” said Zushi, confused that Gon had never considered this. He gave Gon a pat on the back. “Gon, we’re going to have to have a talk sometime later.” Gon rolled his eyes at this. He hadn’t known him for long, but he doubted Zushi could even give good relationship advice. He’d have to wait and see, though. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise this isn't going to be a slow burn they'll be in a relationship soon xD
> 
> I'll start setting up some of the other characters, too, it's just I'm focusing on the freshmen for now because they're confused and make a lot of dumb decisions that upperclassmen wouldn't do. 
> 
> With that out of the way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know if you liked it, or what you're looking forwards to.


	3. Cheese Doesn't Agree With Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected meeting leads to an unexpected gathering and an unexpected confession? Unexpectedly, of course.

Adjusting to college classes over the next week and a half was a bit trickier than he expected, but it really helped that Gon memorized his schedule so he knew what classes he had on which days. He wouldn’t tell him, but he memorized Killua’s too. Apparently they only had lunches together on Monday.

Except this was a Wednesday, and Gon spotted an unmistakable flash of white hair out of the corner of his eye. Could it be Killua? What other student had that hairstyle? What was he doing in the dining hall right now? 

Gon downed his entire grape juice in one chug before grabbing his plate to clear it off. 

“Ok...kay?” said Zushi, confused. Gon wiped his mouth off with his arm. 

“I’ll explain later, there’s someone I have to talk to first,” said Gon, sure he was going to forget to clear this up. 

“Have fun?” said Zushi, still a bit perplexed as to why Gon would just run off like that. 

Truth be told, he missed spending time around Killua. He’d been getting spoiled on the weekends where Killua would come over to his dorm to hang out with him, Zushi, and Neon. But during the week, it was just texting. It made him feel antsy. It took him a few moments to admit it, but he did, in fact, have a crush on Killua. 

He didn’t crush easy. He could probably count the amount of crushes he’d had on one hand. Which is why he absolutely didn’t know what to do about this. Zushi and Neon suspected that he had a crush on Killua and egged him on to ask him out, but Gon wasn’t entirely sure about that. What if Killua was weirded out by the notion and didn’t want to be his friend anymore? That would be totally embarrassing, and he’d lose his favorite friend if he fucked it up. 

But part of him still wanted to try anyways. 

“Gon!” 

Killua’s surprise at running into him was evident; the plate slipped right from his fingers and dropped straight down into the trash can. The two of them stared at each other awkwardly. 

“I thought you had class now, if you didn’t we should have gotten lunch!”

“I…” Killua’s voice trailed off for a second. Gon hesitated. Was Killua avoiding him on purpose? Was that why he lied about his schedule? Killua opened his mouth to speak again, only to be interrupted by the lunch lady.

“I am  _ not _ getting that for you, make sure to fish it out,” she said, waiting patiently for Killua to reach down and grab his plate. His face turned a soft shade of green, almost as if he was going to be sick. 

“I need to go to the bathroom,” he said, holding his hands out in front of him awkwardly as he ran out of the cafeteria. Gon watched him go, a bit puzzled. Was Killua avoiding him on purpose? Was it something he did? Was he too overbearing? Oh no, this was going worse than he expected. Was he seriously getting the idea to ask Killua out when he was going to be like this? Did that mean he had taken the hint and didn’t reciprocate? Was it weird that he was waiting outside the bathroom for Killua to come out?

It wasn’t long before he walked out, wiping his wet hands on his pants. 

“Look, about lunch…”

“No, I get it, I feel like I was being a bit pushy. We’re friends and all, but I get that we don’t have to spend all our moments together, and-” 

“I skipped my class,” Killua interrupted. 

“Huh?”

That was not the answer Gon was expecting. Skip class? But why! Classes were expensive, why not go to them? 

“My physics professor doesn’t take attendance, so I don’t have to go. Besides, it’s so much nicer to have lunch in the middle of the day instead of like, 2 pm,” said Killua. “I honestly didn’t even remember you had lunch right now, otherwise I would have texted you. Man, I don’t understand how so many people just go to the dining hall and eat alone.”

“Right?!” exclaime Gon, immediately back on his vibe with Killua. “It’s so awkward and uncomfortable. It’s a little social break in the middle of the day.”

Killua made a noise of agreement, and now Gon was left back on his toes, game plan still in play as he tapped his fingers together. He could do this.

“I feel like we don’t see each other that often, and I kind of want to hang out. Want to come with me back to my place when you’re done with classes?” asked Gon. Killua scratched the underside of his chin. 

Hopefully that wasn’t too weird. They were just friends, but Gon kept skirting around the question. 

“No Zushi, or Neon?” asked Killua. Gon smirked. 

“I mean, they’re cool, but it’ll be just the two of us!” 

Killua’s neutral expression changed into a smile. Gon felt a breath of relief wash over him. Oh, good, Killua wasn’t avoiding him after all. 

“Promise?”

“Yeah!”

So… That was a lie. 

Gon should have realized from the moment he didn’t need to twist his key to open the door; Shalnark had left it unlocked. And for obvious reasons. 

“Oh hey, Gon, you know these three but I invited a few other friends over if you don’t mind,” said Shalnark, ushering for the rest of his friends to make a little break in the circle on the rug so the two of them could sit down. Gon immediately recognized Phinks, Feitan and Shizuku from the night where he tried to go to the party. Oh, so they all made it back too. “Pakunoda, and M-”

“This is….” Killua started to say, awkwardly sitting down next to Gon. He leaned in to whisper and Gon felt his heart beat get a bit quicker. Damn, he was so close. “I thought you said it was just going to be us.”

“I didn’t realize Shal was going to invite a ton of people over!” Gon protested. 

“We are  _ not _ close enough for you to call me Shal,” said Shalnark. “Anyways, Meleoron lives right across the hall from us, and he was kind enough to show me how to disable the smoke detector. I’ll show you later.” 

“Hey.”

Meleoron looked and smelled  _ exactly _ like the type of guy to get a pack of cigs from a 7/11 past midnight. Like a frog on a lilypad, he just seemed like that was his perfect scenery. 

“Hey,” said Gon, awkwardly. “This is Killua-”

“Oh, you’re the guy who dropped a whole ass plate into the trash,” said Meleoron, eyes bulging slightly. Killua’s lips pressed into a thin line. 

“Okay, look-”

“Like, just straight down into the trash?” asked Shizuku. “Why?”

“It wasn’t on purpose I just-”

“You know the plates are reusable, right,” said the blonde lady Gon could only assume was Pakunoda. 

“YES. I know,” said Killua, ticked off. “You know what? Fuck it. Yes I dropped a plate into the trash because I like to cause problems on purpose.”

Gon gave him a smirk. 

“Anyways… what’s going on here?” asked Gon. 

“We’re playing truth or dare. Shal’s turn,” said Phinks. “You two in?”

“Yes.” said Gon at the same moment Killua said no. “Aw man, just a round or two?”

“You two work it out, in the meantime I’ll pick  _ dare,”  _ said Shalnark. 

“I dare you to take a big swig of Gon’s milk,” snickered Feitan. There was a brief pause. 

“You fucking asshole,” complained Shalnark, raiding the fridge. 

“But… that’s my milk,” contested Gon. Shalnark didn’t seem to care, though. 

“He’s lactose intolerant,” said Shizuku, filling in for the few who didn’t know as if that made the situation more contextualized. 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, or maybe you should, I haven’t decided if I’m fond of you yet. But you give off lactose intolerant vibes,” said Killua. Shalnark flipped him off as he drank another sip of the milk. “Like, you just  _ look _ like cheese doesn’t agree with you.”

“Thank God for lactaid,” he said, taking one of his packets out. 

“Can I snort one?” asked Feitan. Shalnark looked at him, perplexed. 

“I mean… sure? I don’t think you’ll get anything out of it thoug-”

It was too late. 

“Every day I say a prayer for his brain cells,” said Phinks. 

“Amen,” Shizuku hummed.

“Honestly I’m kind of bored,” said Killua, crossing his arms. 

“What, are you too good for truth or dare or are you worried we’ll make someone else make an advance on Gon,” teased Feitan. Killua scrunched up his nose. 

“No, it’s just kind of boring. It’s either tell me who you like, or do something gross,” said Killua. 

“I dunno, it can be fun sometimes,” said Gon.

“Fine, truth or dare Gon?” 

“Truth?”

“Where’s the weirdest place you’ve jerked off?” asked Feitan. 

“Math class, middle school, next person-” said Gon, trying to immediately brush off the subject. 

“No! You can’t just leave us hanging like that!” 

Gon looked over at Killua, who didn’t seem to phased. Oh good. 

“It was mostly an accident, don’t get your hopes up for an interesting story,” said Gon, awkwardly. “You know, everyone’s a lil unhinged in middle school.”

“I wasn’t,” said Pakunoda. 

“Okay, but you’re perfect and we know this,” said Shalnark. 

Eventually, thankfully, everyone got bored of the game, especially everyone just picking truth after Killua had made a note that most dares are just doing gross things. Soon enough, the conversation switched to Shalnark’s love life, the last thing he wanted to hear about but everyone else seemed somewhat interested. 

“Tinder? Why not Grinder?” asked Gon. 

“I like the occasional woman,” said Shalnark, opening Tinder to show them the profile of a woman. At first glance, Gon just noticed that she was rather strong, but on the second notice…

“Dude she’s 57, what the hell are your settings!” exclaimed Killua. Shalnark rolled his eyes. “And what the hell are  _ her _ settings….”

“Wait, isn’t that one of the Geology professors?” asked Shizuku, adjusting her glasses. “Pr. Kreuger? I had her last semester. She’s a tough grader.”

“Dude, you can’t seriously swipe right on a professor,” said Phinks. Shalnark rolled his eyes. 

“Why not? She’s not  _ my _ professor.”

“The things that go through your mind…” Phinks trailed off. “What about you two?”

“Huh?” asked Gon, taken aback. What was Phinks talking about? That the two of them would be on Tinder, or that they were together? Was his crush that obvious? Gon wanted to look over at Killua, but the embarrassment was strong. In a perfect world, he would have taken a deep breath and thought things over, but right now his heart was racing faster and faster, as if Phinks had added three separate layers of tension into the room. 

“That seemed to strike a nerve,” Feitan said inquisitively. “So, how long have you two been a thing?”

“Oh, we’re not together,” said Killua, just a little too easily. Gon’s heart sunk. That’s right, Killua probably didn’t like him back. They’d just met a bit over a week ago, that was super quick to have a crush. Even though they’d been talking and texting a bunch, it was too early, wasn’t it? He didn’t get crushes often, but Killua was different. He was so easy to talk to, and they meshed together so well. Right, like friends would. 

“Oh please, I saw you checking him out when he sat down before you,” said Shalnark, rolling his eyes. “Just skip the pondering and talk about it.”

“I… what..?” Gon stammered. 

“And you! You’ve been doing nothing but sitting up on your bed and texting like a teenage girl, smushing your face down into the pillow every time he sends you something that makes you blush,” sassed Shalnark. He turned to face Killua. “You know, he adds a little heart next to your name.”

“No, it’s not like that I-”

Gon couldn’t get the words out of his mouth quick enough. 

“I… I think I’m going to go back to my dorm.”

If his heart was sunk before, now it was  _ shipwrecked.  _ Killua was just going to leave? Stupid fucking Shalnark, reading him like a book and then presenting the report to Killua. Why did he have to do that, what good was it for him! Now he just made things awkward. 

“Dude, go after him!” said Phinks, gesturing towards the door. Meleoron offered him a sympathetic glance, while everyone else seemed to mind their own business. Gon bit his bottom lip before running out of the dorm room. 

“Killua?” he called out, a little unsure of himself as he spotted Killua near the door to his hallway. “I just, I… hey, can we talk?”

Killua froze, before hesitantly turning around. 

“I guess,” he said awkwardly. Gon nodded. He could do this. It was just a misunderstanding, it wasn’t fatal. And besides, if the two of them really were that compatible as friends, a little bump in the road wasn’t going to ruin anything if he worded everything carefully. 

“There’s a few couches and chairs in the lounge, obviously it’s not exactly a private conversation, because Shalnark has my room, but…” He was overexplaining everything. Killua sighed, before turning around. 

“Okay.”

The two of them sat down on a couch in the lounge area, awkwardly not looking at each other for a few minutes. How was he even going to phrase this? Well, he may as well get it over with. It was easier to just wing it than follow a script anyways. But Gon felt the uneasiness return to him. Why was it eating him up so much inside! Maybe if he was feeling this torn about it, he should just forgo a confession anyways. Yeah, his gut instinct was probably telling him that they didn’t need to.

“I actually…” All he had to do was tell Killua that Shalnark was joking, trying to get on his nerves on purpose, but what came out was totally different as if he were possessed by some ulterior force. “I’ve been wanting to ask you out all week. I think I… have a crush on you.”

Oh why oh why oh why had he said that! He could do nothing now but smile and wait for Killua to answer him, the two of them both in shock for different reasons. Killua looked as if he were short circuiting. Oh no. 

“But I’m totally fine being friends, in fact, I was thinking about just telling you so that if you didn’t like me back I could stop going through the “will we won’t we” in my mind and then I’d get over it faster and we’d go back to just being dudes, pals, bros-”

“Gon.”

“Yeah?”

Killua looked over to the side first, cheeks a slight pink, so soft that Gon himself blushed back. Damn, he really was weak for him, wasn’t he? With that fluffy white hair of his, and those sparkly blue eyes, not to mention his catlike grins. 

“I haven’t really been avoiding you, I just get a bit awkward when I have crushes too,” he said, hand resting on top of Gon’s, giving it a little squeeze. He looked up at Gon. “I’ve never really been in a relationship with a guy before, or like, a  _ relationship _ relationship.”

“You dated Canary though?” 

“We were 15!” exclaimed Killua. “I told you, that doesn’t count because we didn’t even kiss.”

It wouldn’t be until later that night when he was lying in his bed clutching one of his pillows tightly going over this scene over and over again in his mind that he finally processed it, but whatever inside him made him do it needed to get a fucking raise. No, promoted to  _ main _ Gon. 

Before Killua, Gon had never kissed anyone before. He’d seen how people did it in the movies, or his friends from high school, but he wasn’t expecting lips to be so….. Squishy. He thought they’d be harder, more solid like his hand or his pillow that he’d kissed before in a childish preparation when he was younger. 

Killua’s lips seemed to melt into his, locking around them as Gon felt more pressure being applied onto his. He pulled away, a shocked look on his face. Killua gave him an awkward smile before rubbing the back of his head. 

“Now this one counts,” said Gon, a little bit too proud of himself. 

“You do realize I never said yes.”

Eh?

“.......”

“I’m just messing with you. I’ll go out with you, I guess,” said Killua, crossing his arms. Gon rolled his eyes, before leaning his head onto Killua’s shoulder. 

“You  _ guess,  _ or you want to,” teased Gon. Killua opened his mouth to speak, before closing it. “That’s what I thought.”

“Did you really get all blushy over my texts though?” asked Killua. Gon bit his lip as he tried his hardest not to let his cheeks heat up. 

“Were you checking out my ass when I was sitting down?” asked Killua. 

“More than just that,” admitted Killua. Gon squeezed Killua’s hand in surprise, really not expecting that kind of answer. Seriously? He was check-out worthy? And by Killua, who was super duper hot already! If he wasn’t careful, he was going to short circuit. 

“Okay fine, maybe I got a little excited when you’d text me,” Gon said offhandedly. “But it was for friend reasons too! I swear I wasn’t just texting you to hit on you.”

“Oh wow, that totally would have been a deal breaker, glad you cleared that up,” said Killua sarcastically. 

“Uhg, shut up,” said Gon. “But seriously, what am I going to do about Shalnark?”

“Can I give you my honest opinion on the dude?”

“Sure.”

“Your roommate perplexes me, he has the energy of a highschool mean girl yet he has so many elements of “weird kid” that it’s really throwing me off,” said Killua. “Maybe it’s his friends? I’m sure if we removed them from the equation he’d just be a weirdo.”

“I mean, I’m a bit weird too,” said Gon. Killua ruffled his hair. 

“But you’re the  _ good _ kind of weird, he’s just annoying,” said Killua. “Anyways, I don’t think it’s cool that he was all up in your personal business, I mean, what if you hadn’t decided to wear tight pants today, he would have totally embarrassed you-”

“So you were checking me out!” exclaimed Gon. 

“Literally, we went over this. How is this still a surprise to you!” 

“I’m still processing it,” said Gon softly. “Do you normally admit to people when you’re checking them out?”

“No? I just got exposed, so I figured I’d just roll with it. I try not to stare, though, cuz that’s rude,” said Killua. 

“Since when do you care about being rude or not,” scoffed Gon.

“I don’t know, since I’m trying not to make a fool of myself in front of the guy I like?” suggested Killua. Gon smiled. 

“Well, let me know how that goes.” 

The longer they talked out there, the longer Gon realized that they didn’t  _ need _ to go back and rejoin the rest of the group. It wasn’t the perfect privacy of a dorm room to talk, but just vibing together without anyone else was really nice to have. Gon felt like he could talk to Killua for hours, about anything and everything he wanted to. It was nice to have someone who saw him eye to eye…. Not literally, of course. Killua was still a good few inches taller than him, and wouldn’t let him forget it. 

Even after he left, the fluttering in his heart still continued. He couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow, and the following days after that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts, comments, concerns, complaints? 
> 
> Direct them to my secretary at +1 (202)-555-0133 
> 
> Joking, please leave me comments tho!


End file.
